Touchwood manager elected as new Solihull BID vice chair

SOLIHULL Business Improvement District (BID) has elected the Touchwood general manager as its new vice chair.

Tony Elvin said the BID has plans to make Solihull an ‘even better destination, to bring greater footfall, inclusion and energy to the area’.

The BID works alongside partners such as Solihull Council, West Midlands Police, public transport providers and property owners including Mell Square and Touchwood.

A BID is a defined geographical area within which local businesses collaborate to invest in projects, services and initiatives that improve the environment in which they work.

BIDs deliver additional services to those provided by the local authority and the police.

The Solihull BID Board also has a say in running town centre marketing, promotion, public realm, connectivity and safety and employs Town Hosts – who welcome visitors and support businesses during the day – and Evening Guardians, who support visitors to evening entertainment venues at weekends.

Mr Elvin, who joined the BID board last autumn, has been general manager at Touchwood since spring of last year. Before this he was manager of Hotel du Vin in Birmingham city centre.

He will work alongside BID chair Kevin Johns, of Prime Accountants, and BID director Melanie Palmer on various schemes and events intended to raise the profile of the town centre as a shopping, business and visitor destination.

Mr Elvin said: “It is fantastic to have been elected to the vice chair role at Solihull BID, particularly at such a critical time for the town centre and looking ahead to the next BID term elections.

“We’ve got so much we want to do, so many plans we’re working on to make Solihull an even better destination working with and through our local stakeholders.

“I am very excited to be able to offer BID director Melanie Palmer more support, along with chair Kevin Johns and the rest of the BID team as we drive to execute our plans bringing greater footfall, inclusion and energy to the BID area.

“The outlook is certainly positive with retail and leisure tenancies increasing at pace in Touchwood and across the town as we continue to buck the national retail trends, offering renewed optimism.

“We are also taking this opportunity to bring more people from across the town centre into different BID working groups helping to get the whole town working together to create something really special and consolidate our position as a quality shopping, dining and business destination.”

Tony’s election to vice chair comes at a time of new appointments and departures for the Solihull BID board.

Leaving the BID board are: Matt Hutchings, Crowne Plaza, Nicola Newland, Wider creative agency and Kerri Matthews of National Grid. All are leaving because they have moved out of the BID area.

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